While most would rightly assume the company is a maker of large powerful and very expensive cars, according to the company's PR man for Southeast Asia, James Barclay, the whole Rolls-Royce, BMW, Volkswagen deals on wheels issue from the late 1990s continues to cloud the perception of the company.
Not in any way that is going to significantly affect sales of its cars, but Barclay says there are still potential customers that believe Bentley is part of Rolls Royce and even BMW -- which now owns Rolls Royce.
To help clear up these and any other misconceptions and celebrate its rich heritage and 60 years of continuous manufacturing at Crewe, the company recently embarked on a Diamond Anniversary Tour.
The Tour -- which incorporates a large liveried semi-trailer, a selection of current cars and an array of marketing paraphernalia -- started in Brisbane in May and through the rest of this year will cover more than 15,000 kilometres through 13 cities in seven countries around Southeast Asia and Australia.
The Diamond Anniversary Tour highlights Bentley's heritage in manufacturing, motorsport -- with the 2003 Le Mans-winning Speed 8 a central part of the display -- and road cars with potential customers participating in social events and drive days.
For the record, Bentley, was bought by the Volkswagen Group in 1999 and currently builds two model lines, the Arnage and Continental, at its manufacturing facility in Crewe in England.
Bentley Motors was first formed in 1919 by WO (Walter Owen) Bentley and after manufacturing had all but ceased at its Derby factory during World War II, it moved into a new facility in Crewe in 1946. The first product to come out of the new factory was the Bentley Mark VI -- the first to be fully developed and built by Bentley as previously it had only built chassis and engines.
Fast forward to 2006, and after a 500 million pound injection of funds from Volkswagen, Crewe now delivers over 10,000 cars a year and Bentley has had a significant resurgence as a luxury manufacturer, thanks largely to the introduction of its mid-sized Continental range.
The first of these was the two-door GT coupe, which locally, helped boost Bentley's annual volumes from around 20 cars a year to more than 120 after it went on sale here in 2004.
Last year, the range was boosted further with the arrival of the four-door $350,000 version of the GT, dubbed the Continental Flying Spur.
Like its coupe kin, the Flying Spur uses a 6.0-litre twin turbo W12 engine that delivers no less than 411kW and 650Nm to drive all four wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission.
During its Melbourne stopover on the tour, CarPoint was able to sample the mid-sized sedan on a brief drive around the Yarra Valley.
From the moment you slip inside the leather and wood lined luxurious interior, there is a feeling that this is a special car indeed. There is plenty of space up front and in the rear with the optional two seats in the rear providing adequate head and legroom to stretch out and, as you would expect, an abundance of creature comforts.
But the Continental range was designed to be driven and once you fire up the engine, the aural emissions of the big W12 engine only hint at what potential lies beneath the bonnet.
Off the line, there is no doubt that the accelerative forces are strong, very strong, with the car quickly slipping smoothly through the gears, but it is the in-gear grunt that is truly astounding. Overtaking is impressively simple with a decent prod of the throttle inducing a quick down shift and a very urgent thrust forward that gently squeezes you back into the big comfy and supportive seats.
Despite it's near 2.5-tonne kerb weight, the car doesn't feel overly heavy with the engine well and truly up to moving the sedan in very quick fashion. Bentley claims a 0-100kmh of just 5.2 seconds -- a time that would put many sports cars to shame.
The car we drove was fitted with the optional 20-inch rims and although they wore low profile tyres, the ride on all surfaces was very compliant and comfortable. At the same time, on the tight twisting tarmac of the Chum Creek Road, the car sat flat through corners and was eminently controlled and predictable when pushing on with vigour.
The Flying Spur may be designed to be a more long distance tourer when compared to its GT kin, but it still delivers a very decent drive experience when the road gets challenging.
Later this year, Bentley will add a third variant in the Continental line with the Continental GTC convertible due to be launched at October's Sydney motor show. Australia's allocation of the two-door, four-seater soft-top is limited to about 30 cars this year and all are pretty much spoken for.
But if you still have a hankering for a Bentley convertible and you have a spare $600,000-odd, then you might want to consider the new Arnage-based Azure that is due on sale here early next year. The flagship four-seater soft-top will be powered by a 336kW/875Nm version of the Arnage's 6.75-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.
With its continued growth worldwide and ever-expanding model lineup, there is potentially little reason why it shouldn't be manufacturing cars for another 60 years at Crewe.